


Memories: Looking Back, Going Forward

by gaemmel



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: M/M, absolute schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 05:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19739026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaemmel/pseuds/gaemmel
Summary: Prompt with the same name from the Synchronised Screaming group on tumblr. Emil and Lalli think back, but they do more than that.





	Memories: Looking Back, Going Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, here I am, writing something! Neat, right? Thanks to the Synchronised Screaming people for providing such nice prompts that finally gave me some motivation!

The moment he woke up, Emil’s heart started pounding like crazy. Today was the day. He looked beside himself - and found the spot beside him empty. Of course Lalli couldn’t sleep. 

Emil got up and opened the door of the bedroom he had lived in most of his teenage years. Downstairs, someone - probably Siv - was doing something with dishes and talking to one of the children, Emil couldn’t make out which one of them it was. Even now that they were sixteen, their voices still confused him. 

He wondered where Lalli could have gone. At home, back in their own house in Luleå, he knew the surroundings woods well, having helped cleanse them himself over the past decade. But here, in Mora, there weren’t any immediate woods, so there was hardly any quiet place Lalli could go. Worry took hold of Emil and quickly dressed and went downstairs. 

“Emil!” Siv cried happily when she saw him come into the kitchen. She was making pancakes while Sune was setting the table. “Ready for your big day?”

“Hey.” Emil smiled tiredly at both of them. Siv had been very much on edge for the past two days since he and Lalli arrived, overcoming her usual tiredness to make sure both of them enjoyed their stay in Mora. 

“Have you seen Lalli?” he asked. 

“I heard the door at like 6am, maybe that was him?” Sune offered. 

“What were you doing up at 6am?” Siv asked her child quizzically, but Sune just shrugged. Teenagers. Emil remembered a time when he could answer almost every question Siv asked him like that, even if it was about what he wanted for dinner. Siv rolled her eyes. 

Emil left the kitchen and took his jacket off the peg in the hallway, then put it on while he left the house. It was a sunday morning in June and the streets were quiet. Emil looked down the street, left and right. Where to go? 

He decided to follow his instinct and went to the left. He walked down the street and turned into another one and kept walking until he came to a nearby park. It wasn’t very big, just a few meadows surrounded by gravel paths and a small playground with a swing set and a slide. 

A few people walked their cats, he even saw someone walking a dog - those had recently come into fashion, but unlike cats, they didn’t serve any purpose. Torbjörn called them “recreational”, Siv called them “useless”. Lalli hated them, the first time they had seen one together in Mora, he had been half-ready to get his rifle out. 

Emil walked along a gravel path and turned a corner until he reached a different part of the park, one with more trees and a small lake. And there he sat at the shore, his knees drawn up against his chest, staring into the calm water. Emil came closer without calling, he knew that Lalli would hear and recognize his footsteps. He sat down beside him.

“Hey.” he said quietly. 

“Hey.” Lalli replied without turning his head. Emil slung his arm around Lalli’s waist and Lalli leaned into him, cuddled his head against Emil’s neck. 

“Do you feel ready?” Emil asked. 

“I think.” There was a smile in Lalli’s voice. Emil felt himself relax as he realized what mood Lalli was in.

“Then why are you here if you are not trying to escape your fate?” Emil asked. 

“Couldn’t sleep, everything’s too loud here.” Lalli replied. That was nothing Emil didn’t already know. So he just nodded and enjoyed the warm weight of his boyfriend against his body. 

For a moment, there was comfortable silence. 

“What are you thinking about?” Emil asked when he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. 

“The water makes me think of Denmark.” Lalli said. 

Emil swallowed. “What specific part of Denmark?” he asked. “Denmark” was the word they used when they meant anything concerning their first mission into the Silent World a little over ten years ago. 

“Lots of things.” Lalli said. “The train rides. The first time we met. You spilled food on your shirt.” 

“And you stole the meat off my sandwich!” Emil replied. They both giggled. 

“Do you remember when that stupid train stopped and we both fell out of bed?” Emil asked. 

“YOU fell out of bed!” Lalli yelled, sitting up and looking at Emil. “Because you wouldn’t wear that belt!” 

“Oh, right.” Emil realized. He grinned at Lalli. “You didn’t understand a word back then.”

Lalli shrugged. “Now I do.” 

“It’s still so amazing how good at Swedish you got.” 

“While you still suck at Finnish.” Lalli replied. 

“Hey!” Emil said, pouting. “Finnish is a lot harder than Swedish!” 

“Not for a Finnish person.” Lalli shrugged. 

“I remember the first time we kissed outside of the tank.”

“Still amazed at how we didn’t get eaten by something that night. Stupid.” 

“I think I was so far gone, I wouldn’t have cared if something had nibbled me, as long as I finally got to nibble at you.” Emil laughed. Lalli punched him in the arm, giggling at the stupid things Emil was saying. 

They both needed a while to catch a breath after that. Lalli took Emil’s hand and looked at it while he said the next words. “I am glad this all happened. Despite everything.” He looked out onto the sea. “Onni would hate me if he heard me. But I think it was meant to happen like that.” He paused. “She would have said the same. I know it.”

Emil squeezed Lalli’s hand and nodded. He couldn’t do anything else. 

“Speaking of fate.” He said. “I think we are meant to be at church in two hours. And I haven’t had breakfast.” 

Holding each other’s hand tight, they walked back to the Västerström’s house.

-

“ I, Emil Fredrik Västerström,

take you, Lalli Saku Hotakainen, 

to be my husband, 

to share with me through both joyful and sorrowful times, 

and devote myself to you, 

until we are parted in death.”

Emil’s voice was quivering almost too hard to finish the vow. There were tears streaming down his face and he had to try very hard not to sob. Lalli’s voice was steadfast, musical, as if he was speaking a runo.

“I, Lalli Saku Hotakainen,

take you, Emil Fredrik Västerström, 

to be my husband, 

to share with me through both joyful and sorrowful times, 

and devote myself to you, 

until we are parted in death.”

Their first kiss as a married couple tasted like salt and a happy ending long overdue. 


End file.
